The Pretender said:

Now a days, not possible anymore, feed come's from the engine ECU.
In the old old days there was even enough leeway in the clock number, that it would be possible to change the numbers bij hand with a small screwdriver.

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That's right, then they introduced the little tags so if you tried, you'd break the tags off and people would know you'd cheated.

Looking forward to 30K on mine.

Washed the Panda today to get rid of the road salt. Car still looks pretty good after 3 years. Apart from some little stonechipping at the right front corner of the bumper she's pretty much spotless.
Nice and clean! Only took a couple of hours...

TheR said:

Washed the Panda today to get rid of the road salt. Car still looks pretty good after 3 years. Apart from some little stonechipping at the right front corner of the bumper she's pretty much spotless.
Nice and clean! Only took a couple of hours...

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Yep, nice and clean.

The Pretender said:

Yep, nice and clean.

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Haha, well it certainly became a lot brighter.

I need to clean inside mine. She got a good wash outside last weekend but it's been raining again this week.

I've been carrying a bike in the back every day and that's knocking things around a bit. The most frustrating part is that the bike goes in easily, but goes in differently every time I put it in, so I'm always messing about trying to make it fit.

Usual saturday morning service - check everything, fill up the washer bottle, check the tyre pressures. I do NOT like how dark (black) the oil is, and it's been that way since I got her with 1,500km on the clock - I really do not trust these long oil services at all and will be insisting on one when she goes in for her first service at 15,000 km.

I also decided to check the pressure in the spare this morning. Fiat don't really encourage you to do this do they. First you have to unbolt and remove the tool tray - not hard though the bolt has a looonnng thread to undo. Lift that out and put it to one side. Then you have to turn the spare over because the valve is on the bottom. But because of the design of the boot, you can't just flip it in the wheel well, you have to take it out completely to turn over. It's not hard, just a pain and not something you'd do in a busy service station with people waiting (well, some people would). Having faced it before, I got it ready at home, then reinstalled everything back at home.

Also worth noting that the spare is losing pressure at about the same pace as the tyres on the ground so you don't have to forget it too often for it to be too flat for effective use, especially on the highway.

Oil will aways get dark the first 20.000 Km or so when you running it in.
I'm on my second oil since August last year and it is still clear.
And never had to fill it up since.

Washed, polished & waxed it

If i have the time, Monday, i will drive mine through the carwash.

The Pretender said:

If i have the time, Monday, i will drive mine through the carwash.

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You actually find those things useful?

My experience is that they only find leaks and wash off loose dust. Maybe we have more aggressive bird poo here.

I do confess that I find washing a car a chore and have taught myself not to be embarrassed by owning a dirty grub of a vehicle.

Checked fluids none required and washed and hoovered a 70 mile run out averaging 62mpg all in all another fine panda day

sandeel999 said:

Checked fluids none required and washed and hoovered a 70 mile run out averaging 62mpg all in all another fine panda day

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62 mpg
sandeel999 gets the Feather Foot Award

Picked my 4x4 up Friday night so today will be spent with the handbook learning how to use it and how it works.

illy

Yes aussiepanda was trying very hard. Usually im in the 40's mpg with my lead boots on as this loves to be revved and driven like an italian car should

sandeel999 said:

Yes aussiepanda was trying very hard. Usually im in the 40's mpg with my lead boots on as this loves to be revved and driven like an italian car should

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They are spirited little beasts aren't they

aussiepanda said:

You actually find those things useful?

My experience is that they only find leaks and wash off loose dust. Maybe we have more aggressive bird poo here.

I do confess that I find washing a car a chore and have taught myself not to be embarrassed by owning a dirty grub of a vehicle.

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The carwash i use, does "not" have brushes but some kind of microfiber solution.
The only thing i have to do by hand, are the inside doorsills, the rest looks like showroom clean.
I hate car washing by hand, and never polish a car in my live, or plan to.
The best my cars get is a full option carwash ones in a while. (3-5x a year)

Those inside door sills are funny on the Panda, I've never owned a vehicle before where you have to do so much cleaning inside the doors, right up to the rubber seals.

Drove into a hilly snowy road to a weddingparty with 5 in the car, plus cakes and food yesterday. Good fun, but several FWD cars made it aswell.

And next week I will take the boat to Kiel and drive to a small town outside Bremen. Will be there a few days, then drive from Bremen and home to Oslo, via Denmark and Sweden.

I think I will miss cruisecontrol, but I am looking forward to the drive!

Today I finaly got around to painting my hubcaps ? Yup painting hubcaps.
From new I wasn't keen on the originals so brought a set of Orange caps, when they came they looked dull, a sort of grubby orange.
I found a man who can cut the word panda in the correct font & mirrored.
All I had to do was lift the perspex middle out (held in with double sided tape), wipe the paint off (comes straight off with acetone) apply the new panda graphics and paint them the shade of orange I wanted. Whilst these dried I painted the outer part black ready to put the centres back in, simples
New cap fitted next to an old one.



Talking of MPG
My 2 X 5 mile stop/start trips a day, in the cold & dark with the lights & heated seats turned on and I'm only getting 39 to 41 mpg. The same journey in the summer gets me from 49 up to 59mpg

About 68mpg on a ten mile round trip! Simply amazing